Chapter 12: Practice Makes Perfect
As much as she wanted to alleviate herself from the weight she had been feeling, there was no way to tell her father that she had already lived a decade past the age she was at that moment.
As she looked up at his hopeful eyes, ready to hear her truth, only a half truth came out.
"I had a dream mother found me a husband in another kingdom," she explained. "I was forbidden from sword fighting and was only allowed to work with the tutor or go to etiquette lessons until I was able to be married off. It made mother so happy but... I hated my life. I felt miserable up until the very moment I died at the hands of a goblin. I could have easily taken it down if I had kept up with my sword fighting."
A lump formed in her throat and it felt like someone had their hand wrapped around it. She managed not to tear up.
The man hugged his daughter.
"My greatest fear is handing you off to someone who doesn't deserve you," he responded. "I will be sure that never happens."
"If what I love is deemed as manly, I don't want to ever get married," Irene persisted and returned her father's tight hug.
Arthur had his own qualms about her statement that he didn't dare voice. However, he assured himself that he already had one child who would have to one day get married to pass down his title. If he had an heir, he didn't mind having a knight as well.
Irene had been quiet with him for a while. He was worried he had lost her until that day in the forest. He was sure his little girl had returned to him when he saw her in the cavern trying her best to save him alongside one of the apprentices.
"I will support you in your every endeavor, my sweet girl," he said. "I do have to agree that it will be best for now if you pretend to be a boy. That way, you will start off on equal ground as the other apprentices. You are just as capable as the boys we have now. You've met Lief. There's no doubt in my mind you could beat him in a sword match."
Irene's eyes lit up. The heaviness she felt was washed away immediately by her father's words.